it is not -- it shouldn't even be discussed in the deficit because it doesn't add to the deficit. medicare we have in the obama care we put into reform. i mean, the republicans just finished telling us that it was terrible that we cut $716 billion out of medicare, and that was terrible. now they want to add a lot more cuts. i think that the cuts we made in medicare were enough. they should not impact beneficiaries. and we shouldn't do anything that will at this point. those cuts may very well over a long period of time put medicare on a sustainable basis. we shouldn't do anything further to medicare until whether we see that works out. >> but you acknowledge a deal is not likely to get done without some reforms to entitlements. >> i do not acknowledge that and if a deal doesn't get done, it doesn't get done. >> you're prepared to go over the cliff as well? >> absolutely. >> it sounds -- >> it's not a cliff, by the way. and understand this. people keep talking about the republicans deliberately created this emergency. in order to blackmail the country. and the emergency here, the c